Distributor News

Next year will see Ingram Micro spending $80-$100 million to "de-layer" and "align" its global infrastructure and internal organisations in the hopes of annual savings worth... $80-100 million.

The distributor already coughed up $8m on restructuring during Q4 2013. The rest will be spent during H1 2014, meaning Ingram will only see the eventual cost-saving results by 2015.

As CEO Alain Monie puts it, "the overall objective of our organisational effectiveness programs... is to streamline and focus our resources to run our businesses faster, smarter and better to capture the tremendous opportunities we have already started to invest in, while generating greater, sustainable shareholder value."

Long-serving ALSO Holding chairman Thomas C. Weissman announces his stepping down from the ALSO board, to take place on the date of the company's 2014 annual general meeting.

"After 26 years working for ALSO it is time to make room for others," Weissman says. "The company is now a strong number three in Europe and displays a sustainable profitability which is substantially better than that of the competition, so I can place the fate of the company in other hands with a good conscience."

The chairman gives no further word on his retirement other than "personal reasons."

Systemax Q2 2013 results remains in the red despite turnaround efforts-- company revenues fall by -5.1% Y-o-Y to $805.8 million and operating losses reach $6.1m, up from $2.3m in Q2 2012.

Back in November 2012 the Misco owner announced an exit from the PC making business, moved its pan-European operations to "a shared services centre in E. Europe" and dropped the CompUSA and Circuit City brands.

GAAP net income for the quarter is $49.8m, down from $90m for Q1 2012. However Q1 2012 did see a net discreet tax benefit worth $28.5m and favourable HDD pricing.

Gross WW profit totals $585.3m, up from $467.6m for Q1 2012..

"In addition to shifting market dynamics, we also saw increased competitive pricing this quarter due to the sluggish economic environment in Europe," CEO Bill Humes says. "However, even though we expect some relief in the mid-term, we recognized many quarters ago that strategically we needed to develop and grow markets where inherently better margins are available.... we have made, and continue to make, investments in several of these areas, which, while they impact our near-term expense levels, are consistent with our strategy to increase the ratio of our higher margin, and better returns businesses."

IT distribution giant Tech Data rips up the financial results for fiscal 2011, 2012 and 2013 following the discovery of errors in the "vendor accounting" of UK subsidiary Computer 2000.

As a result Tech Data will recount the number and publish new results-- with the adjustments wiping out up to $33 million from previously reported net profits and cutting reported consolidated operating income by anything from $30m to $40m.

Consumer IT interviews V.M. Chandrasekar, MD of Global Distribution FZE, nearly a billion-dollar global IT distributor based in Dubai

The IT world is changing with the speed of light and companies that fail to keep pace will simply die, says a key Dubai-headquartered IT distributor.

V.M Chandrasekar, founder-group managing director of Global Distribution FZE, spoke to us while on the occasion of his company’s international executive meeting. Chandrasekar flew in 25 key of his business heads from around the world for a three-day conference in Dubai to brainstorm innovative ways to ensure his company keeps changing with the times.

Established in 2001, the $900-million Global Distribution FZE operates in Europe (Germany, Austria, The Netherlands), Latin America (14 countries including Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela and the Caribbean), India and the Middle East. With a 35% year-on -year growth, it works through a network of over 50 offices, has 80,000 sq ft warehouse space and employs over 650 people worldwide. It deals in finished goods and components and its partners include top names such as Apple, Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, LG, SAP, Cisco, WD, Xerox, Seagate and others

In a Q&A session, Chandrasekar-- a man who has personally witnessed the IT space transform itself over the years-- brings us up-to-date with his views on the current IT distribution market.

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